ICC Champions Trophy 2017 Final: India vs Pakistan, 5 things Virat Kohli's men did wrong
A Fakhar Zaman special and a mesmeric opening spell from Mohammad Amir helped Pakistan stun India in the finals of the 2017 Champions Trophy at The Oval. The highly rated opening batsman from Pakistan made full use of an early reprieve to dig into the Indian bowling and race to a fine hundred.
The veteran all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez then played some eye-catching strokes alongside Imad Wasim, promoted ahead of Sarfraz Ahmed, to take Pakistan to a highly competitive 338.
Zaman was brilliant but Amir overshadowed him with a game-changing opening spell that accounted for Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan. He broke the back of the Indian batting line-up before Hasan Ali and Shadab Khan wrecked the middle-order.
Hardik Pandya's lusty blows were fun to watch but they were never going to get India close to Pakistan's mammoth score. The game had been lost way before that and on that note here are five things that India did wrong in the all-important final.
#5 The all-important extras
That extras cost India in the finals would be an understatement. One no-ball from Jasprit Bumrah turned the game in Pakistan's favour. In the fourth over of the Pakistan innings, Bumrah induced an outside edge off Fakhar Zaman that Dhoni held on to only for Marais Erasmus to extend the dreaded hand to the right, signalling a no-ball.
The extras did not stop there as all of India's main bowlers bowled wides aplenty. Ashwin bowled two on the trot and Jadhav followed suit in the final stages. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hardik Pandya bowled overhead wides to complete an erratic bowling display.